PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies made Cole Hamels a $19.5 million player and their opening-day starter, their No. 1 pitcher on a team with three viable candidates and their No. 1 reason for long-term optimism.

And two games into the season, he has a 10.97 ERA and no wins.

If that doesn't explain the Phillies' 2-4 start, it provides a distinct starting point.

"I'm not winning games," Hamels said Sunday, after a 9-8 loss to the Kansas City Royals. "I feel good. I definitely have a good feel with all my pitches. Unfortunately, it's not showing. And obviously the end result is that we are not winning ballgames when I'm pitching."

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Despite a 4-0 lead after one inning Sunday, Hamels was inconsistent, easily rattled, and there for the Royals to jolt him with nine hits and eight runs, all earned, in 5.2 innings. He walked four and allowed Billy Butler to ram a grand slam.

That followed a seven-hit, five-run, five-inning start in the opener at Atlanta ... and that suggested deep trouble for a team trying to forget that it went 81-81 last season.

"He's given up some runs," catcher Erik Kratz said. "I don't think he's had terrible command. He's been behind at times, and he's made a few bad pitches, I think. The home run to Butler was probably middle-belt-high-up.

"He needs to work down in the zone. He had good plane today. And for whatever reason, sometimes he was behind. Even some of the times when he wasn't behind, they were able to battle back into the at-bat."

Hamels threw 63 of his 106 pitches for strikes Sunday, but struck out only two, with the Royals clearly unimpressed that he has become a $144 million property.

"He was throwing some balls close to the plate, but his command was definitely a big problem," Charlie Manuel said. The manager added, "It's his command. He was throwing some balls close today. I said something to him after the game, and he didn't make any excuses about it. I felt like he threw some balls close, but at the same time, his command is what got him in trouble."

Hamels was crisp through two innings, but Chris Getz opened the third with a bunt single and the Royals started to stir. One theory tossed about as softly about too many of Hamels' pitches was that the strike zone was inconsistent.

"I don't need to comment on that," Hamels said. "Our goal is to go out and throw strikes and to execute pitch after pitch no matter what the zone is. It's a fact of you have to get ahead of hitters, and you have to make them uncomfortable. You have to get them out, and obviously I was not able to do that."

By the fourth, the Royals would have Hamels staggered. That's when Butler touched him for the grand slam, the first of Hamels' major-league career, according to the Phillies.

When Alex Gordon doubled for the third Kansas City hit of the sixth inning, Hamels was replaced by Chad Durbin, who would allow two inherited runners to score, further ballooning Hamels' ERA.

Hamels insists he will not do anything differently when next he throws a between-starts bullpen session, for he is convinced that he is not far from regaining the form that has made him a three-time All-Star.

"I was just trying to stay at the bottom of the zone," he said. "I was really trying to focus on having good angle and making sure to hit the bottom of the zone. Unfortunately, it was under the zone. It was a step in the right direction, but unfortunately, it is still a couple steps behind."

Hamels is a couple of steps behind and so, the Phillies are too.

"All of us are true competitors and we've all had success in the big leagues," he said. "And we all expect to have success. So we just have to bear down and just go out there and do what we know we are capable of doing.

"We can't stress about the results as much as what people want us to stress about. But we have to be confident in what we can do and go out there and execute. And things will definitely take care of themselves."